644 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



Another Ifadinp fanner is A. H. Holland, 

 belonging to this district, who distributes the 

 manure with a seeming reckless prodigality, 

 whieh tells at the cheese factory, — his cows 

 rating among the first. No im{)roveinentshave 

 been 8y)ared here ; but notwithstanding, the 

 sons will not remain on this farm, although in 

 the march of events a son-in-law may ; for it 

 is impossible to conceive that two such flowers 

 as a sj)lendid farm and its prospective mis- 

 tress, shall bloom in the conservatory of life 

 unheeded and unseen. 



There are some five amateur farmers in the 

 town, among whom is the editor of the Ga- 

 zette, J. Henry Goddard, who seldom tells 

 through the columns of his paper, "What I 

 know about Farming," evidently fearing if he 

 acts the schoolmaster, too big boys and too 

 many will come to school. 



Poor farms are scarce in this town, but me- 

 chanical business is at low ebb, although the 

 southern part has been galvanized into new 

 life by the passage of a new railway, which 

 will soon be in operation. There is no doubt 

 that the force of association and competition 

 contribute greatly to the prosperity of the 

 farming interest in a town like this ; but pub- 

 lic improvements add very much of their quotas 

 to the general result. The broker understands 

 this when he sets forth prominently in his ad- 

 vertisement of two farms for sale, its prox- 

 imity to churches, schools and depots. 

 Churches make the best society to be found 

 this side of heaven, and where this interest is 

 indilFerently supported, the farms are scrubby, 

 the stone walls tumble, the outhouses decay, 

 and the boys rush away into the shop and are 

 lost to the farm forever. The church pays 

 because it compels men to be social, energetic 

 and wholesomely ambitious. There are many 

 who think it pays in other respects, but that 

 will not be considered here. There are some, 

 too, who may think that farming pays in other 

 respects as well as in "filthy lucre ;" but those 

 ideas are primitive and old fashioned. It 

 gives an indescribable charm to that fine old 

 Saxon word Home. The New England farm 

 is protected from the fire blast which so ter- 

 ribly desolated the prairie homes of Wiscon- 

 sin.' Its moderate profits and hard labor do 

 not aUure speculators who overrun a good 

 business. It gives health and happiness to the 

 farmer. 



The fjuestion, then, "Does Intelligent Farm- 

 ing Pay in Massachusetts?" may be answered, 

 as Mark Twain says, thusly : it pays if the 

 necessary conditions are complied with — which 

 are publlcimprovementsand — private improve- 

 ments — not forgetting the good, live, agricul- 

 tural newspaper — for instance, like the one 

 you hold in your hand, good reader ; and, let 

 me add, lay on the manure lavishly. As the 

 miller of Mansfield said to his boys in his dy- 

 ing charge, "Get money if you can honestly, 

 boys, but get it." As there is no dishonest 

 • way in making manure, it is safe to follow the 



the miller's advice, only substituting the word 

 mamire for money, which will prove* synony- 

 mous terms in the end. It Does Pay; it 

 pays as it paid the Dutchman, who at the 

 breakfast table on the first morning of the hay 

 season, set down with his hired man to a dish 

 of buttermilk and whey. The "help" looked 

 sorrowfully on the bill of fare, eat sparingly, 

 and retired to the hayfields, when hanging his 

 scythe to the limb of an apple tree, he sung 

 with a dolorous pitch — 



"Buttermilk and whey ; — 

 No work done to-day." 



Next morning the bill of fare was amended 

 by the substitution of bacon and eggs. 



After breakfasting heartily he went into the 

 field and sang this merry lay, at the same time 

 cutting down the grass something like a first- 

 class mowing machine : — 



"Ba'"on and eegs; 

 Take care of your legs." 



The ground is your servant who will work 

 for you with a will if you give substantial 

 food — though unlike the hired man it requires 

 food but once a year — but then it craves enough 

 to last all the year round. d. w. h. 



Barre, Mass., Nov. 7, 1871. 



Deep Ploughing. — The last monthly re- 

 port on the progress of scientific farming on 

 the Ogden Farm, near Newport, R. I., under 

 the direction of Col. Geo. E. Waring, closes 

 with the following paragraph, as printed in 

 the American Agriculturist : — 



In general farm matters there is nothing of 

 especial interest to report. We jog along 

 very much as usual, well satisfied of the bene- 

 fits of soiling, and not especially dissatisfied 

 with our results in anj' respect, save that, in 

 spite of thorough cultivation and heavy ma- 

 luiring, we still feel the ill elFect of the deep 

 ploughing of about ten acres of the farm in 

 the autumn of 1868. For ordinary crops it 

 does very well, probably nmcli better, because 

 of the deep ploughing, but about two acres of 

 carrots planted upon it will bi'ing a very in- 

 significant result, because of the injurious 

 ellcct of the upturned clay on the delicate and 

 slow-growing seedlings. 



Beet-sugar in California. — The Alvara- 

 do Beet-Sugar Company are now well under 

 way again in the manufacture of sugar. It is 

 stated that the supply of beets this year will 

 reach 8U0 tons — 16 tons to the acre. The 

 juice yields most satisfactorily. The amount 

 of sugar made last year was 500,000 pounds. 

 This year it is expected to reach 1,125,000 

 pounds. This will enq)loy tlie mill about five 

 months.' The remainder of the year will be 

 occupied in refining imported sugar. The 

 Sacramtnito Company will soon be ready for 

 operations. This company expect to realize 

 about 400 tons of beets this year. — Ag. Hep. 



